Abstract

MAGOJA, Eduardo Esteban. Civil Disobedience as an Expression of Political Obligation: A Proposal. Justicia [online]. 2023, vol.28, n.43, pp.57-70.  Epub Nov 22, 2023. ISSN 0124-7441.  https://doi.org/10.17081/just.28.43.5998.

Regarding political obligation, the theory of fair play states that, if a person who is part of an advantageous cooperative scheme benefits from the efforts of the other participants, he has to bear the burdens of cooperation; otherwise, he would violate his duty of fair play, that is, to reciprocate the benefits obtained. From this point of view, the political obligation has a prima facie characteristic, which allows the possibility of thinking about forms of justified disobedience against any particular law or governmental act. The most important and well-known are civil disobedience, protest and conscientious objection. By using a methodology that combines a legal and political philosophical approach, this paper aims to analyze the (dis)value of civil disobedience in the constitutional state of law. We will see that, far from being a transgressive attitude, it is an essential way to preserve the basic human goods, especially those primary goods of social groups that are not taken into consideration by the government or cannot effectively enforce their claims. Based on these considerations, we will move forward to the formulation of the thesis that civil disobedience is an expression of political obligation.

Keywords : fair play; political obligation; civil disobedience; rule of law.

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